February 15, 2008

I was reading THIS story this morning and it made me think of three things:

Insurance policies occasionally prove themselves to not be a waste of money...though they may seem like they are sometimes!

I need to dust off my old David Garrett CD's, because this guy is talented, and makes me not feel annoyed towards the violin for it's squeaky, scratchy notes. (We can thank my college roommate for giving me that opinion)

I'm glad my instrument of choice is a piano, and that it's too big to carry around on your shoulder while walking up a flight of concrete steps. Because falling backwards down the stairs is SURELY something I would do...as graceful as I am.

If you haven't seen (or heard) him play, here's a short clip of one of his performances. Notice the conductor in the video is so shocked that David came to the concert dressed as he was, that he ran back to his dressing room and put on a clown wig so he could disguise himself and hide his embarrassment.

Can I just say for the record as a classically trained musician though, that there is nothing worse than having people clap along with your song and screw up your brain's tempo? Although he handled it well. I'd just stop and lay my head on the keys and then shut the fallboard. Or crawl under the bench. But that's why he's playing in front of millions, and I'm sitting at my computer in my pajamas. :)

February 12, 2008

But let's just say that selling a house, schooling a kid remotely, and trying to keep the other parts of my world together doesn't leave a girl with much time to do anything else. Like say, BLOG! But that's ok...

So here's a quick recap of a few things that happened while I was away!

Milo turned 5!!! YAY! He's very happy...he's been waiting for many moons to turn 5. We had a busy Saturday with all the caucus prep and drama, so we did a big family party on Sunday.

Speaking of the caucus, whew! it's OVER! (well...sort of...) Elijah did a great job as our precinct's PCO. We're a little disturbed about how it all went down, but we'll save that for later. Currently Washington is STILL not reporting it's numbers fully...most likely because they'reall racking their brains trying to figure out how the heck Ron Paul did better than all the other candidates. But you won't read that in the news.... :)

My friend Joanna had her baby! YAY Joanna and Doug!! We are so excited about their new little Owen...wish we could be closer.

Jude is doing AWESOME! We have had FOUR WHOLE WEEKS with no Dr's visit, and you have no idea how amazing that is for us. I actually got a CALL from my pediatrician to check and see if he was ok, since he hadn't heard from us for a month. Poor guy probably thought we switched or something. Jude is his most "frequent flier" and we get teased by the office about all the vacations our insurance company has sent our dr's family in the last 18 months. So what's the change?? A MAGICAL ELIXIR. Or, so we hope. He was put on a new immune boosting medicine a month ago, and it's starting to look like it's not just good luck, but that it's actually helping him keep well, and not catch every single germy bug out there. I just pray it keeps working!! More info on this later!

I spent only $74 dollars on groceries last month, and we've been eating better and have more food downstairs in our freezer and on our food storage shelf than we ever have. People, it PAYS TO SHOP RIGHT!

Our house is STILL for sale- coming into month number 2. We're crossing our fingers that sales pick up here in the next few weeks as the weather warms up a bit. We've had a LOT of people through, but just haven't had any major bites. There are just a lot of options for people, and they're taking their time. The few we've had offer have too many contingencies to make it worth our time, and then we've had some couples come through and leave saying "We're GOING TIGHT NOW TO GET FINANCED!!", but we never hear from them again. I'm trying not to complain, but I don't know how much longer I can live with these three kiddos in an empty house trying to keep it pristine. It is SO hard!! I miss my office, I miss my STUFF!! I need to knit! I need to make stuff...and having it all packed up in boxes five miles away is hard. You can check out the house here... SOMEONE!! BUY THIS HOUSE! Seriously, I wish it was appropriate to tie people down and explain to them that this house is the PERFECT house. It's had NO problems since the day we moved in, and it's completely redone, something that you won't find in downtown richland. There isn't another F house in the city with an upstairs laundry room, it has so many nice upgrades. And, we have been so happy here. Honestly, I keep just wishing there was some way to put the addition on and make the changes to the house that we need for Jude's health and just stay here. But I know that's not financially intelligent, so I will just bite my lip and MOP MY FLOOR AGAIN!!!!

Liam is more than halfway through the school year, and report cards are on their way Friday. I'm excited for him, he's done SO well and his teacher is so excited about his progress so far this year. He's excited that summer is on it's way!

OK! That's it for now! It's 4:00 and I have hungry kids jumping on me. I'll be back...soon I hope!

February 02, 2008

"You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world. The world must be a better place for your presence. And the good that is in you must be spread to others...."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley

We're watching his funeral services today online here. He will be missed by many I know, but speaking for myself, he will be so missed by me.